Firehouse Zen

Michael â€œMickâ€ Mayers isÂ currently an executive-level chief officer in a well-known all-hazard response organization and member of aÂ federal incident management team;Â His experience as a leader in emergency services led him to create and continue to write the award-nominated blogÂ FirehouseZen.com, a well-known website that reflects on leadership and change management.

Chief Mayers is a founder and the past Director of South Carolina’s urban search and rescue program. A graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program, Chief Mayers has completed his degree in Organizational Leadership from Columbia Southern University and holds a degree in Fire Science Technology from Savannah Technical College. These reinforce his national professional certifications as a fire officer, instructor, hazardous materials technician, and SCUBA instructor; Mick was also a National Registry Paramedic and EMT Instructor for 25 years before finally retiring those credentials. Chief Mayers began his emergency services career in Bridgeport, PA in 1980.

Among many commendations, Mick received his departmentâ€™s Meritorious Service Medal once in 1984 and again in 2009. In 2005, Chief Mayers was recognized by the South Carolina State Senate for his work in development of theÂ South Carolina US&R programÂ and then honored later that year by the South Carolina Department of Fire and Life Safety for leading SC-TF1 into service in St. Tammany and St. Bernard Parishes (Louisiana) after Hurricane Katrina, where he was the task force’s Incident Support Team Commander.

Chief Mayers served many years asÂ a special operations programÂ manager and has heldÂ command positionsÂ duringÂ response to many national disasters, national security events, and in protective details forÂ several Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States. Mick continues to author articles and coursework involving technical rescue and emergency service leadership. He has spoken atÂ the UniversityÂ of North Carolina – Charlotte’s Fire Rescue Management Institute and their EMS Management Institute, the National Hurricane Conference, as well as conferences for theÂ State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance and the South Carolina State Fire Chiefs Association. Â Mayers has also serves several local non-profit organizations as a board member and is the co-founder and Vice-President ofÂ Caroline & Friends, a non-profit established as an advocate for persons with Down syndrome and their families. Chief Mayers is a native of Montgomery County, PA and lives on Hilton Head Island with his daughters Emma, Caroline, and Honora. He is a fourth generation career firefighter; his father is a retired Fire Chief and Fire Marshal, his brother is a fire investigator and arson task force leader in the Baltimore-Washington region.

Chief Mayers is available only on a very limited basis for speaking engagements or other consultation as his busy schedule permits; for more information, e-mail him atÂ firehousezen@gmail.com

I’m not sure if you’ll remember me or not from back when I was on FFN, but I want you to know I read your stuff all the time and appreciate your knowledge and skill. Thank you for the work that you do.

No, I remember you. I appreciate the kind words and hope that you find some of my ramblings useful. But as I say all the time, I think many out there also have much of value to share and I hope to hear from you often as well. Thanks again-

My name is Mike Perrone, I am a 29 year veteran of the FDNY at Ladder 175 in Brooklyn, NY and inventor of the Multi-Force Forcible Entry Door System. I believe some of the information below will be very useful for your training blog and I am a big fan of your site and its content.

I put up some training tips online of some forcible entry techniques I developed and demonstrated on my door.

Mr.Myers I would like say I have the up most respect for your services. My father inlaw Joe Houston was a fire cheif in fort lauderdale fl. My brother inlaw A Scott Mc GARY is still active in sunrise fl.I recently opened a restoration company in bridgeport being new to the area is tough. I would love to get invoved and support the fire companies. any ideas,would be appreciated.Thank you

Mick,
I’m a fairly new officer on a paid on call department in Michigan. I enjoy all of your articles and always look forward to them. Your to the point style helps greatly with my struggles to lead my personnel and other officers. Thank you for passing on your knowledge and guidance!

thanks chief for sharing what u"ve learnt with evry firefighter that reads your blog.it is indeed educational n very enlightening for evry firefighter..keep it up n keep it cooming chief.God bless n Take care from the Fiji Islands…
Island firefighter….

Hi Chief,
I'm still out here promoting Fire Prevention & Safety!
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Mick, nice blog and I appreciate what you are doing here and the approach you are taking. If you have something in terms of a presentation you'd like to share with us at Utah Valley University, the link below is our call for papers. This is an opportunity for emerging scholar-practitioners to present their intellectual work in a peer-reviewed academic conference.http://www.uvu.edu/esa/conferences.html
Thank you, it would be nice to have you out here.
Dr. Rodger Broome – Department Chair

Simon JavizianThe Roto-Ray: Beauty or Beast?I just found you!!! The rotating lights are an indelible part of my memory. I was born in Detroit in the '30s and our Detroit Fire Dept had the rotating lights above the front bumper, or high up, on the end of a vertical staff. YOU COULD SEE THEM COMING BLOCKS AWAY!! What memories. I…
2017-05-22 23:54:18

Carol Mayers WingeierEnding or Beginning?Beautifully said. I know how hard it is to move on to another stage in your life but there is always something new out there, something more to learn, something more to teach another. All those skills you've learned and taught have a purpose and you never know when one of them will come in…
2017-05-06 17:30:16

BostonfireFirefighting Today HangoutWhy is it that when members of the public want to initiate a great lifesaving program, Fire Chiefs ignore them and will only work with FF's? I know a former Air Force medic who is really trying her best to initiate a Pulse Point AED program in New England, but none of the Chiefs will…
2017-01-07 00:04:19

oldnukeThirty-Five“What the **** are you thinking?” Man, you sound like my first Chief (in a good way). He never raised his voice to me or threatened me, but he got my attention (in a good way) every time. It has been forty years and I still think about him, even though I've left the (volunteer)…
2017-01-03 01:43:39

Michael "Mick" Mayers' Discussions

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